You Are Not My Friend, but I Miss You
By Daniel Kirk
Review By Fatima Khan, Associate Producer, ReadingWithYourKids.com
Anyone who lives or works with young kids knows that sharing is one of the most difficult concepts for children to grasp. Learning to share is an important life skill that every child must learn. Simply put, kids see themselves and their difficulties in books, and by reading them or being read to, they come to learn that they are not alone, and possibly even how to cope. So today we have decided to review a picture book and help parents encourage kids to share, communicate, be kind and include kids in their play.
You Are Not My Friend, but I Miss You is Cute and Insightful!
I like the unique approach the author has taken in teaching a lesson of sharing and friendship. I totally loved the story! The sock monkey is so adorable and the dog is cute, too. I would recommend this book for younger kids with the age group of 3 to 7 years and up.
This book is a story of two friends, a sock monkey and a Dog. They get into an argument during their playtime and monkey gets his feelings hurt and tells his friend “You are not my Friend, Not anymore!” Sock monkey is mad because his friend, the dog, took his ball. So he decides that he won’t be friends with the dog anymore and will play by himself. He taunts “Friends are supposed to share” and “YOU cannot play with ME.” However soon monkey realises he has no one to play with so he plays with a plant and other inanimate objects (and a scary bear) until he realises he isn’t having fun and misses his friend badly. Monkey also realises that he might be the bad friend because he doesn’t want to share the ball with his friend so he apologises to dog and shares the ball with him. In the end, Sock learned to value people over things, which is a lesson that is appropriate for all ages.
Although author has used very few words to describe a story, illustrations in this book helps readers understand the story better and it conveys the important message that sharing and other acts of friendship are two-way streets. Artwork is phenomenal and so very adorable!
I think we’ve all been in a similar situation where we have had a fight with a friend and we later realised that our lives are little dull without him or her. This book addresses a common experience of both kids and adults. This book can also be used as a great tool in a classroom and help students understand that sharing matters and it’s not nice to be mean to your friends. I think this would also make a great Story time book. It’s a Wonderful book which not only encourages generosity and compassion, but also help kids in learning that the difficulty of sharing is a universal emotion!
I would definitely give an extra star for the cuteness of Sock Monkey!
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